Volunteering at a race recently, a runner came to me at the finish to ask to talk to the race director. She'd been tripped up by a dog's leash and wanted to lodge a complaint. Now, dogs weren't supposed to be allowed at this race; however it wasn't on closed roads and there was no way the RD could have stopped anyone wanting to run with a dog from doing so.

Things like that happen. I've also been running a race where a group of cyclists rode right through the crowd of runners in the first mile (again, the road wasn't closed - but the other lane was wide open) and while I myself have never gotten "stuck" behind a group of walkers, I've seen it happen where the walkers from the shorter distance impede the runners from the longer distance.

So we're curious - what situations have interfered with one of your races?

<a href="http://polldaddy.com/poll/5707053/">Have any of these things ever interfered with your race?</a>